The smoke last week played havoc on the plans for the valley’s football teams. Hamilton, Corvallis and Florence all made plans to play in Butte on Saturday after the thick smoke blanketing the Bitterroot made playing outside impossible on Friday night. However, the winds came and cleared out the valley somewhat, and socked Butte in so the teams stayed home for their home games. Florence, who was already scheduled to play Saturday for Homecoming, played at home but canceled the Homecoming festivities until a later date.
Florence opened their game against Bigfork playing tough and controlling the tempo of the game. Sophomore quarterback Colby Kohlman raced up the sideline for a 24-yard scoring run just two minutes into the game. The 2-point conversion was good when Kohlman passed to Kyler All. The Florence defense held Bigfork but penalties on the Falcon offense stopped a second drive to the end zone. Bigfork scored right at the end of the quarter when Austin Varner caught a 15-yard pass from Augie Emslie. Varner kicked the PAT.
The two teams battled back and forth with Florence controlling the Bigfork red zone and stopping them from scoring twice. However the Vikings were also playing tough. With less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Florence had the ball on their own 20 yard line on fourth down. The punt was blocked and Bigfork’s Jayden Dillon picked up the ball and raced in for the score. Varner’s PAT was good.
Florence’s young quarterback didn’t lose his composure but they did have several penalties that stymied their comeback including a holding penalty that negated a touchdown reception by Treven Wood. The Falcon defense continued to play tough and held Bigfork scoreless in the fourth quarter. Final score: Bigfork 14, Florence 8.
Victor topped Seely-Swan in Homecoming action on Saturday, 30-8. The Pirates jumped out to an early lead when quarterback JD Kay pushed through from one yard out for the score. The two-point conversion by Eli Rosen was good. In the second quarter, Skylar Webberson caught a 60 yard pass from Kay for six points. The conversion was not good. Rosen scored twice in the third quarter. The first was a 17 yard run to score and his two point conversion was good also. He raced 18 yards a little later in the quarter for another score. This time, Garritt Gleason caught a pass from Kay for the two points. Seeley scored in the fourth quarter on a pass from Hunter Sokoloski to Caleb Maughan. The two point conversion was good when Samuel caught a pass from Sokoloski.
Hamilton defeated Browning, 57-22. The Broncs put up 436 yards on offense while limiting Browning to only 258 yards. Bronc quarterback Carson Rostad completed 14 of 39 passes for 282 yards and seven touchdowns. Rostad hit Tyler Barns from 42 yards out, Camron Rothie from 16 yards out, Tucker Jones from 24 yards out, Bridger Bauder from 55 yards out, and Tyler Chouinard from 12 yards out. After a Browning touchdown, Rostad went to the air again for a 14 yard scoring reception to Rothie and again to Rothie from six yards out. Bauder kicked seven PAT’s and one 31 yard field goal. The final Bronc touchdown was an eight yard run by Michael Golden. Bauder finished with 142 yards rushing and 83 yards receiving.
Corvallis ran over Polson, 37-14, in Western A action on Saturday. All of the Blue Devil scoring was in the first half which led to a running clock in the third quarter. Corvallis’ Liang Liedle scored the first touchdown with a two-yard run into the end zone. Aaron Christensen kicked the PAT, as he did for all of the Blue Devil touchdowns. Wyatt Ballman scored again in the first quarter on a 37 yard run. Hunter Pinheiro caught a Polson player in the end zone for a safety to complete the scoring in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Liedle had a 13-yard pick six and then raced 24 yards for another touchdown. Pinheiro scored the final Blue Devil touchdown on a three yard run.
The Darby Tigers fell to Twin Bridges, 42-30, in a close Western C game in Twin Bridges. Although Twin Bridges got on the board first with two touchdowns in the first quarter, Darby had a strong second quarter. Dylan Parks had a hand in the first two Tiger touchdowns as did Nelson Smith. Parks hit Smith from 26 yards out and then made the two point conversion. It was Parks and Smith again for the second six points, this time from 33 yards out. Grant Horvath had a one yard run to the end zone for the last Darby touchdown of the quarter. In the third quarter, Parks hit Smith from 62 yards out for the score. The final Tiger touchdown was in the fourth quarter when Smith plunged one yard for six points.